Luna stood haunched over the anvil of her workstation, she was slightly more distracted than normal. She had been this way ever since they had found Celestia and the others two days prior. They had recovered from their hypothermia by then and Luna was expecting to be visited. And visited she was. Celestia came down as she was hammering away at another sword.
Luna didn’t hear her come up behind her, her ears were to filled with the sound of ringing metal. She shoved the blade back into the furnace and turned suddenly to see Celestia not five feet from her. She was grateful that she no longer had the rod of steel in her grip, she would have dropped it from fright otherwise.
“Please, dont do that while I’m working with steel.” Luna said. “I’d have to restart completely if I drop it.”
“Sorry.” She said. “I came to see you.”
“And ask questions I gather.” Luna responded. “Now is probably a good time. No one is like to be listening.”
“Indeed.” Celestia said glumly. “How did you get here? And why are you here doing this?”
“Simple enough.” Luna said pulling the steel from the furnace. She set the blade on the anvil and began shaping it once more. “I got here because the stallion Shade found me. I was unconscious due to blood loss and he brought me to his home, patched me up, and taught me his trade. I didn’t know how long I would be here or even if these ponies were friendly to equestria. So I decided I would need a good base to start in case it took a while. I had planned to make sure I had a place to go to before I attempted a rescue.”
“Well, that worked out well.” Celestia said. “You have a job, a home... and a cute stallion.”
Luna fumbled as she went to put the rod in the water. A blush covered her muzzle and she just barely managed to get the steel doused right. She glared at Celestia, who had a very large grin on her face.
“So you do find him attractive.” Celestia teased giggling.
“S-shut up!” Luna said, unable to hide her blush, that now covered her neck too. “And don’t be so familiar with me while in public. We still don’t know if their friendly to equestrians. And I just now earned their trust, I don’t want to loose it.”
“Alright, I wont tease you about it, for now.” Celestia mused. “What is the plan from here?”
“Well, the plan I had in place just went out the window.” Luna said. “I hadn’t counted on you and the others escaping.”
“I’ll be speaking of king soon.” Celestia told her. “The amount of foreigners found in the mountains have caught his attention. He knows who I am and he is going to meet with me, in your coltfriends house no less.”
“He’s not my coltfriend!!!” Luna nearly shouted striking the metal she was shaping a little harder than normal.
“Alright, alright, dont get angry.” Celestia said. “I’ll see you then.”
Celestia left Luna to her work, and leaving her blushing. Luna was thankful that she could blame it on the heat of the furnace. She kept up her work, listening to the song the workers voices were raised in. She struck the hot metal in rhythm to the song. This kept up until it came night and the next group of workers were up. Luna left her forge and returned to Shade’s home, where she found him preparing dinner.
“Hello Luna,” he said looking up, “are ye alright?”
“Yes, why do you ask?” Luna replied confused.
“You look flushed.” He explained standing up, “ye ‘ave never come back like this.”
“No, its nothing.” She assured, getting redder.
“Is something on your mind?” He questioned further, he knew her better than she thought.
“No,” she said slightly panicking, she knew he was onto her.
“What is it?” He said bluntly. “I know somethings bothering ye. What is it? Spit it out.”
“I... I dont think it’s something you need to worry yourself over.”
“Tell me.”
Luna sighed, and half-lied half told-the-truth. “I heard the king was coming here to meet with one of the mares we found. I never thought I would ever see him much less be in the same building. You know better than I do how important he is.”
“Indeed. That is something to think about. But not something to worry about. He will be here to talk with someone, and that someone isn’t one either us. We likely wont even be around for most of it. So calm down.” He assured her, he knew this wasn’t what was bothering her because of the blush on her face, but he knew that he shouldn’t press it. “I had agreed to meet up with some friends at the bar. I should be going.”
“Alright, have fun. I should be getting to bed.” She told him.
“Good night then Luna.”
Shade sat at the bar, alone. He hadn’t decided to meet with friends as he said he did. In fact he was trying to avoid them as best he could. One of them came by his workplace that day and interrogated him on his relationship with Luna. He hadn’t given him any straight answers, but he didn’t have to, this particular friend was an expert at exposing what is really going on with someone. He got Shade to step into every trap he set, and got all of the details from him without ever really getting him to cooperate. Shade hated this about this particular stallion, Close Observer as his name was, and a fitting name it was.
It was about this time that this exact pony showed up at Shade’s table beer in hoof. “Hello Shade, any luck with your marefriend?”
“For the last time she isn’t my marefriend.” Shade almost growled.
“She auta be.” Close retorted. “It’s clear to everyone that you like her, and that she likes you. There’s no use denying it, just go up and ask her.”
“Not going to happen.” Shade replied. “For one thing, I dont like her as anything more than a friend. And two, even if I did like her more than that, she wouldn’t share those feelings.”
“Bollucks and you know it!” Close exclaimed, “ye saw it yourself. Now go and ask her!”
“Fine! I’ll ask her, but if she says no you won’t be upset if I shove it in your face.”